And Together We Fell (prev. "Teenlock") - An AU Sherlock/Johnlock Fanfic

Chapter 17

My watch ticked the minutes by as I sat on the chair. My thoughts flashed by each other in a coherent manner.

I had discovered the note in the lab. I had deduced who wrote it in 43 seconds.

I had then located his tutor room, and his seat, which was incidentally in my chemistry room. I then wrote a note telling the author to meet me in the first quad, 12 am.

The time was presently 11:45pm. I decided to make my way down to the first quad.

Those meetings with Mycroft were essential. The doors automatically locked from 10pm until 5am, and only staff with registered security cards could open those doors, so I had Mycroft use his connections to get me a registered card that would allow me through; my other door card wouldn't work.

I slowly unlocked my door, and calmly and collectively walked out of the door with composure, fastened it behind me, and made my way down the stairs. The consequence of being caught out of your dorm was only an afterschool detention, but still.

I avoided the areas on the grandeur stairs where I knew would emit creaks, and therefore would sell me out. In approximately 19 seconds, I had reached the bottom of the stairs. I slowly crept across the floor until I reached the doors, leading outside and therefore to the football pitches, quads and astro turf. Checking, needlessly, around for any marauding teachers, I then withdrew the security card from my pocket and slid it through the slot soundlessly; however, though, I securely muffled the speaker, which emitted a loud beep, so that when it passed through the beep was barely heard. I eased open the doors, and closed it inaudibly, before treading out into the freezing twilight air and making my way silently to the first quad. (For anyone who doesn't know what a quad is, for us (or for me, anyway) it's a small circular area dotted around the middle of the school, outside, and has benches and a tree and has paths leading to difference foyers or stairs).

As there was nothing to distract me, I observed everything. The trees were swaying slightly in the temperate, but glacial, wind, and a faint rustling could be heard from around my position. The wind also bit slightly into my exposed face, but I simply disregarded it. There was a faint aroma of a bonfire, which alarmed me a tad when I thought of the possibility that it was in the school, but a moment of thought and I knew it was outside the school grounds. There was no sound of wildlife, not even an owl, which was understandable. My shoes stepped soundlessly on the paved stone, and I paused for a second, deliberating whether my apparel was suitable. I was wearing my normal tight black school trousers, a buttoned white shirt tucked in, and a black jacket, not the school blazer, hanging from my slender arms and shoulders. I dismissed the thought that it was unsuitable for meeting a killer in this apparel, as there was no reason it was unsuitable.

I checked my watch. 11:50 pm. I had 10 minutes before the killer arrived. Or there was a prospect he was already there, waiting for me. Maybe he had left the school building a mere minute before me, and was only a couple of minutes ahead of me. Maybe he hadn't even have left the building, and had been outside before 10pm. Which was around the time John left.

John.

A feeling of loss swelled up in the pit of my stomach, and I couldn't help reliving the dispute

"And you know what? It's obvious that the only thing you care about in your life is yourself, and you trying to make yourself impressive. I could bet anything that if I dropped dead right here, the only thing you'd do is set up a crime scene and see what calibre the bullet was."

I stopped for a moment, catching my breath. I leaned against a tree, my face in my hands, and long-forgotten feeling of wretchedness swelling up inside me, grasping at the sides of my throat, and clawed its way up through my vocal words and out through my mouth. I gave a great shuddering sob, and kneed the palms of my hands into my eyes.